“I honestly thought it was pathetic, really,” Rivers told reporters at Chargers practice. “The guy, he’s been out there 210 straight games with no telling how many bumps and bruises and injuries for his team. Won two Super Bowls, MVPs.

“You just feel like the guy has earned the opportunity, if they are deciding in fact to go in the other direction, you feel like he’s earned the opportunity to finish it off, finish off these last five weeks.”

Rivers and Manning will forever be connected for the 2004 blockbuster draft-day trade that sent No. 1 overall pick Manning to New York after his refusal to play for the Chargers. In return, the Chargers received Rivers and a package of picks, one of which became three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman.

In hindsight, the trade turned out to be a winner for both sides, despite the fact that the Chargers have so far failed to convert some of the era’s most talented rosters into a Super Bowl appearance because, well, they’re the Chargers.

And while Rivers admitted that he and Manning are “not close buddies,” he can clearly see from across the country that the Giants and head coach Ben McAdoo have turned the corner from an awful season into an all-time bumbling mess.

Because despite if you’re firmly in the camp that Manning is overrated and gets too much credit for a pair of Super Bowl wins fueled by dominant defensive lines, there is no doubt that he is Giants royalty. And he deserves to be treated as such, especially in the face of a season that is beyond lost with no true incentive to win games.

Well, no incentive beyond a lame-duck coach desperately reaching to save his job.